With the chill of winter in the air and reading several stories about these amazing animals I decided it would be fun to do a penguin craft to go along with our school lessons. Penguins are such amazing creatures and so much fun to learn about.
One evening I sat down and started playing with some shapes and thought it would be fun to create shape cut-outs the kids could make penguins from. With a four and five year old they love to practice their cutting skills and if it involves glue, they are in.
I started by having the kids use watercolors to create their version of the Northern Lights. I encouraged them to use the brighter colors and try to cover as much of the page as possible.
Then we cut out the shapes (the smaller ones I assisted with). I had them sort the shapes, count the pieces and then match them first.
Then they had fun piecing them together. I added in a few triangles that could either be used for a bow tie or a hair bow as well as a top hat but you can get creative and add other pieces with construction paper or color them in with crayons.
You can print out the pages below by clicking the links for the Penguin Page 2 and Penguin Page 1 to open each page. I would recommend printing them on cardstock so the paper is a bit heavier and will handle better. Depending on the age of your children, cut the shapes out for them or let them cut them out by themselves.
Give them a glue stick or a bottle of glue and let them be creative with piecing them together. They can either be glued to the front of a card or glue to their watercolor Northern Lights painting.
Why not make it an afternoon of learning about penguins and watch Happy Feet or March of the Penguins or read National Geographic Readers: Penguins, How Do Penguins Play or Mr. Popper’s Penguins. You can even eat like penguins by making a fun fish dish?